How can we Better Facillitate the shift to Clean Energy?

Out of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, efforts that work towards shifting away from fossil fuels and instead exploring and bettering clean energy work to fulfil at least three:

1.Affordable & Clean Energy

2.Sustainable Cities & Communities

3.Climate Action

The first would be the direct result while the remaining 2, and arguably more SDGs, would be an indirect result of enhancing affordable and clean energy.

Emissions

First, let’s take a look at the big picture. For simplicity’s sake, we are just looking at a handful of countries to serve as a microcosm of how we might deal with all of the world’s countries and their unique strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.

Economic Cotext

For some important context lets look at the economic state of these countries. This will provide us insight into the current state of the country and the opportunities, or lack thereof, that could be pursued.

India and the US, which stuck out as big emitters in the first figure, are on opposite ends of the GDP ranges, this means that different solutions may be implemented depending on what is achievable and reasonable for that region.

Fuel cost comparisons

Since there is an economic disparity between the two countries we are targeting, lets look at the affordability of our clean energy options.

Historically, using clean energy would simply not be practical or sustainable for developing countries with less resources, and using Fossil Fuels would have been the only viable option. However, with these advancements, integrating more clean energy sources would not be as costly.

Source Cost
Bioenergy 0.0724731
Concentrated solar power 0.1066530
Geothermal 0.0542640
Hydropower 0.0459659
Offshore wind 0.0862658
Onshore wind 0.0448345
Solar photovoltaic 0.0641493

Looking at these costs, the most cost-effective clean energy implementations for India would be Hydroelectric & Onshore Wind.

  • India’s Hydroelectric potential is mostly unfulfilled at this point, with only 29% developed. The Himalayan regions are an untapped source, which could increase their capacity greatly. There are currently several projects underway that aim to take advantage of these opportunities.

  • India’s Onshore wind market is currently ranked fourth-largest in the world! Producing roughly 51GW (enough to power ~45 million homes).

Fuel Production Comparisons

The United States’ GDP is not a limiting factor as it is for India; in this case, we should examine which power source(s) will deliver the best “bang for our buck”.

Technology Electricity statistics
Total renewable 959231.98
Solar photovoltaic 183812.46
Onshore wind energy 439125.51
Offshore wind energy 144.72
Renewable hydropower 256601.19
Biogas 10258.04
Geothermal energy 19142.16
Total non-renewable 3536136.13
Coal and peat 913301.90
Oil 42512.71
Natural gas 1740420.84
Nuclear 803668.57

room for improvement /current progress

Takeaways

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals aim to produce achievable goals. This means we must look carefully at where improvements can be made and how we can make them within the constraints of the Country’s capabilities. Especially when considering developing countries, like India, we must recognize that already-developed countries historically used fossil fuels because they are cheap, available, and dependable sources of energy. If we wish for developing countries not to follow in our footsteps, then we must provide a solution that is on par with, or better than, using fossil fuels.

In contrast, for already developed countries, with more robust infrastructure and economies, we should shift our focus and look at clean energy sources that are suited to the landscape and are the most efficient.